Obama’s Cancellation “Fix”: Violating the Law for a Short-Term Public Relations Move

President Obama has told Obamacare’s critics that the law is “settled” and “here to stay.” But today he is saying he’ll violate the law to put a Band-Aid on it for another year. That’s in addition to the one-year delay in the employer mandate and numerous other “fixes” and delays.

The President is announcing his “fix” to the problem of millions of canceled policies: According to pressreports, the President’s “plan would allow people to keep their plans into 2014,” by allowing the sale of insurance plans that don’t meet the law’s new requirements.

There’s one problem—the President’s promise that his new “plan” can allow people to keep their plans is just as flawed and false as his original “like your plan/keep it” pledge. The law itself is clear: Obamacare’s new benefit mandates—the requirement to cover all individuals with pre-existing conditions, the new “essential benefits,” and mandates increasing the percentage of health costs insurance plans must cover—all take effect on January 1, 2014.

As any follower of Schoolhouse Rock will know, there’s only one institution that can change the law: Congress. President Obama’s “plan” attempts to ignore them entirely. The President’s proposal is but the latest in a long line of waivers and unilateral changes made in a futile attempt to repair an inherently unworkable law.

The ultimate “fix” lies with Congress, and it’s a simple one: Undo this unfair, unworkable, and unpopular law that never should have been passed in the first place.

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